Tech skills for older adults

I did not touch a personal computer until 1982 when my middle school purchased an Apple II  that was housed in the library. I was 30 years old at the time. I was a late adopter of smartphone technologies. I still hate texting and do little on social media. 

I did not grow up with technology. I am, admittedly, a geezer. 

The same can be said of many of the people I serve as a volunteer. Nearly all are my age and most are older. Few seem comfortable with many of the technologies younger people simply take for granted. And that have become nearly essential to everyday life.

One of things about which I remain most proud as a technology director was identifying technology skills needed by teachers - a number of years before our national organizations like ISTE tackled the project. My  CODE 77 rubrics and Advanced CODE 77 rubrics, tried and tested in the Mankato Schools, were widely used - if requests for use and sales of my book which was based on them were any indication.

Perhaps it is past time to identify skills we chronologically gifted individuals need if we wish to remain safe and fully functional in today’s digital world. The few sets of skills I find when doing an Internet search on the topic seem more academic than practical. So while I may be reinventing the wheel, I’ll list the understandings and skills I find from my experience to be most useful and necessary. I welcome additions, challenges, or changes…

1. Basic awareness. Understanding what resources are currently in use and useful to meet one’s personal needs. This includes hardware, software, and online resources. 

2. Trouble-shooting/support. Knowing how to fix common technology problems and where to go to find help for more complex issues. Knowing where to go for training specifically for older adults.

3. Communications. Knowing how to communicate using email, texting, and social media platforms with family, friends, and businesses. 

4. Finance. Knowing how to safely use online resources to pay bills, receive payments, and monitor banking and investment accounts.

5. Entertainment. Knowing how to find movies, music, and reading materials online and understanding the costs associated with these resources.

6. Shopping. Knowing how to find, select, and place orders online for clothing, food, and other basic items. 

7. Navigation. Knowing how to use online maps to find walking, driving, mass transit, and bicycling routes to selected destinations and how to use a car’s navigation system if available.

8. Information searching and evaluation. Knowing how to search specific websites for information, discriminate between advertisements and articles, and determine the reliability of the information found

9. Safety. Knowing how to identify and avoid scammers and other dishonest online schemes. Learning the indicators of an illegitimate request for money.

10. Smartphone use. Knowing the basic functions of a smartphone including the voice phone, texting, and photo taking.

Each of these areas need to be more fully developed, of course. And very likely individualized. Some should probably be “recommended, but optional.”

Readers, what in your experience are the most important tech skills for older adults? 

Who is the better parent?

Star Tribune, March 26, 2023

A piece of classroom management advice I still remember from my student teaching days was: “Never make a rule you can’t enforce.” I thought about that warning when I read the news clipping above.

While I am not sure the enforcement of “putting a curfew on social media use from 10:30 pm  to 6:30 am is even possible, not to mention extremely burdensome for tech companies, I am even more bothered by this attempt by lawmakers to usurp parental authority. Why do politicians feel they would be better parents to children than the actual parents themselves?*

This is but one of many recent proposals in which parental authority is being replaced by governmental regulation. Book banners want to restrict other people’s kids from reading things they themselves do not like. Anti-gender affirming and abortion laws move medical decisions from the family to the government. What’s next - banning all sugar-coated cereal from the home breakfast table and requiring all students use gender-neutral bathrooms? Good grief.

This is not to say that I don’t think governmental regulation is necessarily a bad thing. I sort of like things like speed limits, health requirements in restaurants and meat packing plants, and effective banking rules. These all seem somewhat enforceable.

And kids under 18 should have parental permission in making decisions that will have life-long consequences like gender changes and abortions. (In Minnesota, those under 18 need parental permission to get a tattoo. A recent pundit in the local paper suggested we become a sanctuary state for youngsters wanting, but denied, body art in their own states.)

Why does it seem that both sides of the political spectrum have lost faith in the ability of parents to raise children who are good people? How can we place so little faith in our own neighbors?

*Parents can enforce the social media curfew (and most other internet misuse) by simply not allowing personal technologies to be used in the bedroom. Seemed to work pretty well for my daughter’s family.

No such thing as a free lunch?

Minnesota schools are poised to offer free lunches and breakfasts to all students under a bill passed by the state Senate on Tuesday. Star Tribune, March 15, 2023

I ate school hot lunches for all 12 years I attended school*. Hot lunches back in the 1960s cost 35 cents and a carton of milk was two pennies. Of course, most things were only about a tenth as expensive when I was a kid as they are today. Plus we didn’t have cell phone bills or streaming network fees to pay. 

Each month my parents would send a check for seven dollars with me to school so that I could purchase a small paper ticket with 20 punches for meals. Most of my friends who also lived on farms did the same. Some townies went home for lunch; and a rare few brought sack lunches. 

In general, I liked school hot lunches. We got a lot of hamburger gravy over mashed potatoes and overcooked veggies. Chicken nuggets had not yet been invented. One dish I did not like was a salmon loaf we kids all called “spider loaf” because of the black flecks in it, but we always had peanut butter sandwiches to fall back on when that was served. There was not today's concern over nutritional value, but I still managed to attain a height of 6’ 4” eating foods that were bad for me. I’d probably be seven feet tall had I had more fruits and fresh veggies.

There is now a bill in the Minnesota legislature that would make breakfast and lunch free to all public school students, regardless of income. There is some debate over it with criticisms that the program would be a give-away to families who don’t need financial assistance and that the additional expense could be better used elsewhere to improve schools. Points taken.

But I like the idea. A prime motivation for this action is to eliminate the stigma some kids face when their parents cannot or do not pay their lunchroom tabs. Harassment by school personnel (including stamping hands with “reminders" of unpaid bills) or being given a different meal when money is owed have not been uncommon. There are parents who will not fill out the forms needed to qualify for hot lunch. And so on. Shaming children for the behavior of parents is inexcusable.

Public education in Minnesota is, by law, free. We do not charge parents, regardless of income, fees for tuition, salaries, building upkeep, water bills, or administrative services. Nor do we charge for transportation to and from school nor library services nor textbook use. 

If we don’t charge rich folks for textbook use, why should we charge them for school meals? The argument can be made that good nutrition is an important factor in education. One of Maslow’s most basic necessities is the physiological need for food. Duh. And until the most elementary needs are met, nothing on the hierarchy above such as health, friendship, achievement, or problem-solving can happen either. Food is fundamental to success in both school and life.

A free education should include breakfast and lunch. We can’t afford not to provide it.

*I also ate school hot lunches when I was a district employee for many years.